This is what I did and I just wanted to get someon's opinion. I'm just starting to get beyond being a beginner with unix/linux and just wanted some re-assurance, since I did not find any guides, so I did it myself.

1) I downloaded the kernel-headers just like when installing nvidia drivers. Is this really necessary?

2) Ran the ati installer (the 30 odd mb one)

3) edited XFree86.Config-4 to use driver "fglrx"


but when I do "modprobe fglrx" i get nothing
but glxinfo | grep rendering I get "direct rendering: yes"
and glxinfo reveals my render string as 9800 pro generic

and glxgears went from 300ish to 4500ish after I did steps 1-3

Is that what you'd expect from a 9800 pro that was fully 3d accelerated?

Looks fine, but you should run the ATI Configuration utility (as root):

Years back I tryed to get my 9600 to 3d accelerate, so I remember the fglrxconfig, but I was tried fglrx-configure and fglrx-config without success.

Thanks for jogging my memory.

The new ati drivers really are a godsend.